City of Berlin Invests in Social Marketing Startup Brandnew

Brandnew, a startup that connects brands with Instagram and Pinterest influencers to deliver native ads, is flush with capital after investment from the City of Berlin.

A $1.1 million grant has arrived from the City of Berlin’s Program for the Promotion of Research Innovation and Technology (Pro FIT), an initiative which supports science and technology enterprises capable of strengthening the German capital’s economy.

Pro FIT has invested in a number of German marketing and advertising technology companies, including app monetisation platform Fyber (formerly Sponsorpay) and mobile app intelligence firm adjust.

$1.9 million in seed funding

An additional $845,000 of investment has come from several other European companies such as PubliGroupe, Berlin Ventures and Lukas Kircher, bringing Brandnew’s seed funding total to $1.9 million.

Now the social startup has a pile of extra cash to play with, developing Brandnew’s technology, implementing new marketing strategies and forging new brand partnerships are among its list of priorities.

Having access to large numbers of Instagram and Pinterest influencers might be overwhelming, but Brandnew promises automation software to help with influencer identification and tracking to ensure everything is going to plan.

Social media targeting

As good as the ad functions on social networks are, you could argue that campaigns do not have the reach and accuracy side of things completely perfected, a fact not lost on PubliGroupe CEO Arndt Groth.

“Social media is the best way for brands and agencies to reach their consumers but it can be difficult to target their audience when there are millions of users on these channels,” he says.

“Brandnew streamlines the process with their network of influencers and their technology. We are big believers that their product is the future of advertising.”

Coca-Cola, Adidas, Ford, Uber and L’Oreal are already signed up to Brandnew and will soon benefit from an as yet unannounced tool for seeking out influencers based on specific targeting criteria.

Simon Holland

Simon is the news and research reporter at Existem. Previously a technology journalist, he now spends his time investigating both future and developing trends in performance marketing whilst producing editorial content for performancein.com.